The Song Of The Sand
by Lady Heartnet
Summary: Gaara is just coming home from visiting Kohona when he found something that could change his life. Please comment this is my first fanfic ever, please tell me how you think
1. One

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO and its characters**

**Chapter One**

_She was getting very weak, it had been hours since they left her here to die. Indeed she was very foolish to have left the safety of her town. The sun was strong, she could barely move, she wasn't even sure what really hurts anymore. _

_Upon the blistering horizon, she saw an image but she wasn't sure whether it was real or just a mirage, she wanted to cry out for help but her throat was dry, she tried to crawl towards the image but alas she was too weak. The image was getting closer that she tried to reach for it but oblivion engulfed her, and then there was nothing but darkness._

They were in a hurry; they knew they need to get back home as soon as possible. The final leg before they reach Sunagakure is the canyons but suddenly the blond girl stopped and extended her arms stopping her two brothers from moving, her forest green eyes roaming the grounds.

"Is there something wrong Temari?" Kankuro asked.

"I smell blood..." She simply answered.

Suddenly the three of them drew closer to each other looking at their surroundings. They sharpened their eyes and ears and tried to scan the opening of the canyon.

The young man with brick red hair closed his black eyes and tried to listen to any foreign sound. He heard the silent gust of wind, a faint sound of a gecko and a few snakes but there was one sound in particular that had caught his attention. "There's someone here..." He simply stated, as he heard a faint sound of breathing and heart beat.

Temari ran to the left side of the canyon and there she saw a figure lying in between two massive boulders. It's surprise that the person is still somewhat alive. "Kankuro! Gaara!" She called her brothers out. "Come here now!" She called them again.

In an instant her brothers were at her side, without another word the three of them pulverized the massive rocks all the while Gaara formed a shield around the body, preventing it from gaining anymore damage.

The person's hair was long and rust colored, they couldn't tell whether it was because of the blood or whether it was the natural color. They carefully turned the body facing up, and they were horrified at the sight.

Her hair was a natural blond, her face was bloody and bruised, her arms and legs were no different, multiple lacerations and bruises. And to top it all off, she looked quite young. Temari checked her pulse to see if she was still alive. It was very, very weak.

"Kankuro carry her" Temari said.

"Let's just leave her here, we're not sure if she's an enemy." Kankuro said eyeing the unknown forehead protector.

"Then I'll carry her, we can't just leave her here, she'll die before the sun rises tomorrow." Gaara said, as he kneeled beside her and picked her up gingerly.

"But Gaara!" Kankuro objected. "We're even sure if she'll survive this many injuries."

"But we can't leave her here knowing that we could've done something about it." Temari replied.

Gaara carried the stranger until they have reached the gates of Sunagakure. "Kazekage –sama..." One of his councillors greeted him readily as they met at the gates.

"Get me a medical-nin now!" He instantly ordered.

_It was cold but the pain was more bearable now. Her eyes were still closed though, she was afraid to open them. Suddenly she heard voices, it sounded like there was someone arguing._

"_With all due respect Kazekage-sama, you were being reckless by bringing that stranger in our village. We don't know where she came from or what is her purpose for coming all the way here, her village symbol is also unfamiliar. We don't even know what she's for." _

"_Well she's here now we can interrogate her when she wakes up, but whatever the reason I doubt she deserved the state were we found her in. This girl couldn't even be as old as I am." The other replied._

"_But as a Kage you should have thought the safety of your people, the Akatsuki is still at large, what if she's an agent?" _

"_If she's an agent of the Akatsuki then I will take responsibility for it." _

_It was the last thing she heard before darkness tided over her._

Gaara just finished his morning duties, he sat in his chair and looked at the scrolls at hand. He reached for it and started to scan over the scrolls once more when there was a soft rasp on the door.

"Who is it?" Gaara asked, his eyes never leaving the scrolls that he was reading.

"It's me, Gaara-sama, Matsuri and my friend Sari." The familiar voice said.

"Come in..." Gaara replied, rolling the scroll up then set it aside.

"I hope that we didn't bother you Gaara-sama..." Matsuri said apologetically, bowing before the Kazekage.

"I was just done, what business do I have with you?" He asked them.

"We just finished the escorting of the feudal princess of the Hashigakure to the Getsugakure without a single incident." Matsuri began, before giving the full detail of the report to the Kazekage.

"Very well, thank you." Gaara replied curtly.

"Uhm, Gaara-sama... is it true?" Matsuri asked.

"What is Matsuri?"

"Well there was this rumour in the village that you found a wounded person in the canyons?" Matsuri asked.

Gaara searched her face, she looked worried somehow. "Yes I did, she's now recovering in the hospital." He said. "Listen Matsuri if you're only going to say that I made a mistake by bringing her to Suna, then don't say anything else. I'll take full responsibility if she's an enemy, I'll kill her myself." He continued.

"It's not that I don't trust you Gaara-sama, and I know that you have a good judgement. I will accept and respect your decision to let the stranger stay here in Suna" Matsuri replied.

"Thank you. Now would you like to meet her?" He asked them.

"Certainly Gaara-sama that is if you're not too busy."

Gaara led Matsuri and Sari out of his office and then the three of them walked to the hospital.

On their way, many people were about. Some greeting the young Kazekage with respect others with fear. But this was nothing new to him. In his young age Gaara of the sand had been through a lot. He had been ridiculed, betrayed, and feared, now he is the youngest Kage ever to ascend in all the lands.

It wasn't long before they reached the hospital. "Kazekage-sama..." A man in a flowing white robe greeted them.

"Sekka, how is she?" Gaara asked.

"Please follow me Kazekage-sama..." The medical-nin replied. Then led the way to the ward. The hospital smelt sterile, the walls were white and the floors were blue and sand colored tiles. People were up and about, the Sunagakure hospital wasn't as big as Konohagakure's hospital but still it was very busy. "She seems fine now, but still she hadn't woken up yet. But don't worry Kazekage-sama she'll recover without any problems, which amazed me to no end. Just last night she multiple fractures, three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder, the bones on her left leg were practically crushed. Now her ribs are healed and we had no problem fixing up her shoulder and her legs are now okay." Sekka explained.

"That's good to hear." Gaara said before they opened the door to the hospital room.

_She felt a warm sensation on her face, and where ever she was lying it was soft and very much comfortable. She opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself in an unfamiliar place. _

_She gingerly sat herself upright. She opened her mouth and tried to call out to the people who were in the other side of the curtain but to her surprise no voice came out, she tried to call them once more but failed. _

_She started to panic, hyperventilating and flailing her arms about. She accidentally knocked the vase on her bed side bringing the peoples' attention to her._


	2. Two

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO; BUT I DO OWN THE CHARACTER GENZHOU SERA.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

Sekka parted the curtains the moment they heard a crashing sound, the crystal vase lay broken on the floor as the girl cried silent tears. "Are you okay?" Sekka asked the girl.

The girl looked up at them with her tear stained face. Her beauty was astounding, her eyes were in the shade of emerald green with small flecks of gold, her cheeks had a natural rosy color, and she had a small button nose and full bow lips. Her hands flew to her throat, then more tears ran down her rosy cheeks.

"Tell us what's wrong, maybe we could help you." Gaara said.

The girl started making signs with her hands which Gaara couldn't understand, it wasn't any jutsu symbols that he had encountered before or any technique which he is familiar with. Suddenly the girl stopped doing the symbols with her hands slapped her head. She brashly wiped her eyes with her forearms then started to draw a rectangle in the air then poised her hand as if she were holding something thin then started to move her hand up and down.

"Oh pen and paper?" Sari said pounding her fist to her hand.

The girl nodded in agreement.

Sekka took out a small notepad and pen from his pocket and gave to the girl.

"First of all, what's your name?" Gaara asked.

The girl started to write on the note pad then erased it, she did this a couple of time before she finally showed them her paper. Her handwriting was neat and precise there are unknown characters that were scratched over several times before it read. 'My name is Genzhou Sera.' And below it she wrote. 'Where am I?'

"Okay, Sera, right now you are in Sunagakure, my siblings and I found in the east canyons yesterday." Gaara replied.

She instantly wrote something on the pad and gave him the paper she wrote. "Thank you, may I know the name of my savoir?"

"My name is Gaara, this is Sekka, he was the medical-nin that healed you, and these two are Matsuri and Sari. Now can you tell us what happened to you?"

She scribbled very fast then gave the paper to him. "I seemed to have lost my voice..."

"You're voice?" Gaara asked warily. How could you lose your voice?

The girl simple nodded then started to write again, then gave him the paper in no time. "I was on my journey to the west. When someone asked for help. I did try to help them, they were severely injured, and the girl was half dead.

I sang my chant to heal them, and then the next thing I know they were attacking me."

"Can you describe them for me?" Gaara asked.

Sera simply nodded then started to scribble on the small pad once more. It took longer than earlier, and by the looks at her, she looked very serious at what she's doing. After a while she handed over the paper, and there to his amazement, Gaara saw a beautifully draw picture of a person.

The drawing was so beautifully detailed that you could almost feel it breath. There are a few writings on the side of the drawing describing the eyes and hair of the perpetrator. The person was never seen before by Gaara, despite the wanted lists he had on hand. His eyes were sharp and almond shaped and according to Sera has onyx black eyes, his nose was aquiline and straight his mouth was hard lined. He had a distinctive bandana over his long black braided hair.

"Wow!" Saki said admiring the picture over Gaara's shoulder.

Gaara looked at her then simply sighed. "Was he the only one that attacked you?" He asked her.

Sera shook her head then started to draw again. In about a short while she handed it to them. This time the man had an oval face and a bald head, his eyes where sharp and ruthless with small brown irises, his nose was a little crooked and his mouth was wide and thin. And then without being told again she started to draw another picture, it took longer than the other two and when finally she showed them the last picture.

This time it was a woman with round pale grey eyes, long blond hair tied with ropes and a tattoo of a dragon under left eye, a small perky nose and luscious lips all in a round face.

"You're really good at this..." Matsuri commented as they passed the pictures that she drew around.

She gave them a sad smile then looked at her hands. She sighed then started to write again, then gave the paper to Gaara. "I'm not really that good, you should see my sister's drawings they are simply amazing, and besides the one thing I'm most proud of was taken away from me."

"I'm not really sure how they got your voice, but you seem fine now, at least you are in a better state than how we found you yesterday." Gaara replied.

"I know it may be too late, but I just want to thank you." She wrote.

"It was no problem, anyway could you tell me where you from are? Maybe we can help get back at least." Gaara said

"I'm from the east..." She girl simply wrote.

"Look we can't help you if you simply you're journeying to the west and you are from the east." Matsuri said impatiently.

The girl sighed once more then wrote again. "I'm sorry but that's all I have to say, I came from the lands with high priority for security, with abundance of nature and wild life. I was sent here, I was entrusted a very important mission from my King."

"So where exactly is this village of yours? How can we help you if you can't tell me where are you exactly from?"

"My people live in an island in the somewhere in the east. The island is called Sharaku, it's an island governed by a King." She wrote.

"King? What do you mean by that?" Matsuri asked.

"A King is the person who rules over our island, he holds the political power as well as the military power over our small country." She wrote

"Oh you mean like a War Lord and a Kazekage at the same time." Matsuri said again.

"I don't know what a Kazekage is but I think so, yes." She replied.

"I see, what is it that you do? Why are you sent out here?" Gaara asked.

"I'm a platoon captain, I was sent here to gather precious stones to my people." She wrote.

"Okay... maybe you should rest, you've just woke up, I don't know why you healed so fast but you're still tired." Gaara said and started to move out of the room.

The girl held his robe stopping him from any more movement; Gaara looked at her and was surprised when without preamble Sera grabbed his hand and closed her eyes. "It's because it is how our people, is made..."

Gaara was surprised even more that he told back his hand instantly, her thought passed through his mind like it was his own, but he heard her voice.

"Gaara-sama, are you okay?" Matsuri said worried.

Gaara looked at everyone in the room, their faces filled with concern except for Sera, her face was wracked with guilt and sadness. "Don't worry I'm fine, I guess I'm just a bit tired too..." He simply replied then walked out of the room without bothering to look back.


	3. Three

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO CHARACTERS AND ITS PLACES; BUT I DO OWN THE CHARACTER GONZHOU SERA AND HER BACKGROUND. AND ANOTHER THING, I MADE MENTION A FEW ABILITIES THAT CAME FROM DIFFERENT ANIME/MANGA LIKE THE NEN BUT THIS WILL NOT BE A CROSSOVER, ITS JUST THAT THE ABILITIES ARE QUITE SIMILAR YET DIFFERENT, I JUST WANTED TO SHOW THAT PEOPLE OF THE SAME RELM CAN DEVELOP DIFFERENT STYLE ON HOW TO USE AURAS, I WILL EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO ON THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS. THANKS.**

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**CHAPTER THREE**

_Sera was released from the hospital that day and she ended up wondering around the town. It was big, the weather was warm but there was this one huge problem. How was she going to contact the general? Being related to the higher ups has its draw backs. She was simply idling and wondering about deep into her thought, what should she do? How could she get a hold of her sister? Most of her nen was drained when she healed herself from the massive injuries she had last week, her chakra control is so bad she doesn't even bother with it, her elementals are weak since she has a water type element and right now she's surrounded by sand, her chants and spells are useless since she can't use her voice. _

_Right now she's very, very much frustrated, not only with herself but also with her situation! In her frustration she punched a tree that stood by the path. People around her were very much surprised, the tree groaned then slowly fell down to the ground. _

"Gaara-sama about the girl…" One of his advisors told him.

"The girl has a name, please call her Sera." Gaara said without looking up at him.

"That is beside the point Gaara-sama." He said went suddenly a distant thud was heard.

"What was that?" He asked. Gaara was surprised himself so he stood and looked outside his office. With a quick scan on the town he noticed that something was amiss.

He turned around and found one of his anbu. "Kazekage-sama it seems that Sera-san is upset about something."

"What did she do?" Gaara said.

"She knocked down a tree with one punch." The anbu replied.

"Gaara-sama, you see, she hasn't even been out of the hospital for less than 24 hours and she's already causing trouble." The counselor insisted.

"Counselor, if you don't have anything to say anymore than that used argument then please leave. I already told you once I will take responsibility upon Genzhou Sera's case." Gaara said coolly.

The counselor stared at him cold and hard.

"Shall I get Sera-sama?" The anbu said breaking the tensed silence.

"Please do, I'd like to have a talk with her." Gaara said before the anbu left as silent as he came.

"I'll take my leave as well Gaara-sama." The counselor said as he merely nodded in reply.

Ever since he came in this morning in his office he was finally alone. He can think of what really happened a few mornings ago. All Sera did was touch him and he heard her voice.

Her voice sounded calming and sweet, it was a bit husky and mellow. But there are too many things that was starting to bug him. First of all how did she do that? How could she have made her thoughts known to him without talking?

He contemplated whether what to do with the situation, the counsel is breathing down his neck, he may be the Kage of Suna but he is still considered an outcast in his hometown, he knew the only reason why he was picked as the Kazekage was for the sole reason preventing betrayal. It wasn't long when there was a knock on his door.

"Kazekage-sama I'm back with Sera-sama." The familiar voice of his anbu said.

"Come in…" He replied before turning towards the door.

Sera stood there wearing a simple black sleeveless shirt with her forearm protectors with matching black short skirt with fishnet shorts that reached up to her knees. She instantly took pen and paper from her skirt pocket and started to scribble. "You said you wanted to see me?" She wrote down and passed to him, keeping a healthy distance from him.

"Please leave us." He ordered the anbu, with a bow of respect he left the two of them. "Yes… it may be futile to ask this to you but do you have any intention of taking over the lands here." He asked him seriously.

At first she looked dumbfounded then suddenly she her face cracked into a smile and then a soundless laugh. She held her stomach probably from laughing too hard, and tears started to roll from her eyes. And then she held up her hand as she tried to compose herself. She bit her lip probably trying to stop herself from laughing again. "If we are planning to take over anything I highly doubt that his King, majesty would only send one person as a reconnaissance, and I would doubt that he'll send me a lowly captain in the capital city. And as far as I know the King doesn't want to take over any new territory." She wrote and then gave to him.

"That is good to hear then. And uhm I'm just wondering about your ability." He asked.

"What ability?" She instantly wrote.

"Last week when you touched my hand, I heard your voice." He stated.

Her smile faded and scribbled something on the paper again. "Please forget it, I shouldn't have done that."

"Don't you think it's much easier to communicate with that than writing all the time?" Gaara countered.

She looked distressed that she touched his hand again. "Please just forget it, I shouldn't have done that or even doing this… I'm begging you just leave it. And please don't tell anyone about this." She pleaded through his mind.

"Then tell me what really your purpose in coming here is, you said you are from an island, what is so important that you had to leave your home and come here. Please also remember as I am housing you here in my town, other people are also pressuring me to throw you out, there is a group out there that wants to destroy everything that we have trying to save, how sure am I that you are not one of them…" He said quite menacingly.

Sera closed her eyes once more and held his both his hands, she breathed out a slow breath and concentrated. Suddenly Gaara's sight was gone and was replaced by an unbelievable view. "This is my home…" She said showing him a beautiful place, the sky was blue and a wide mountain range, then the scene changed to a beach with the most beautiful white sand and then a small town. "What you are seeing now is the central city." She said, showing a peaceful town with civilians about, all smiles and laughter. "This is what I'm willing to protect, the only militia I am a part of is the Royal Knights of Sharaku. My name is Genzhou Sera, Captain of the 4th platoon under the 1st battalion of the Royal Knights, my one and only mission is to gather our sacred stones that were stolen from us," She said showing him five colored stones, blood red, azure blue, topaz yellow, onyx black, and clear white, "these stones, the will of fire, the strength of water, the sound of lightning, the nature of earth and the fury of the wind." She said naming all of them.

And then suddenly his sight went back to normal. "I understand if you don't want to keep me here, and I'm already sorry for the imposition, don't worry about me, I'll take my leave, I'll do my mission and find the people who took my voice even if you don't think that I could speak like normal people. And please I'm begging you don't tell anyone of my ability." She said. She instantly let go of his hand and took her leave.

Gaara simply stood there trying to process everything that he just learned at the moment.

_Sera quickly took off towards the hospital to gather her things, it was for the better, and she hoped that that Gaara guy would keep his promise of not telling anyone about her secret. And not that she cared, she's going to leave now anyway._

_This was better, aside from looking for the stones, she omitted one important part, and someone was also after her, that she was just careless enough to be stolen from. The last thing she needs is this small peaceful village will be pulled down from her kingdom's problems._


	4. Four

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF NARUTO; BUT I DO OWN THE CHARACTER GEZHOU SERA AND HER BACKGROUND.**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Once she gathered her things she instantly went to the gates, she ran as fast as she could, leaving the town of Sunagakure behind. She may be rude at the moment but for now she really didn't have any choices left. In all honestly she still felt weak but she was behind her mission already._

_She ran as far as she could for the day, she was tired and thirsty, running through the dessert and finally reaching the forest within half a day. She took out her knife and started to hunt food and gather things she might need for the night._

Gaara was wide awake and it was already in the middle of the night, sure old habits die hard having been the previous vessel for the One-tailed Shukaku, of course he was used to not being able to sleep at night, in fact he was used to not sleeping at all.

The counselors of Sunagakure was very much pleased after learning that Sera left on her own accord, he also knew that it was indeed dangerous to bring back a stranger to Suna but somehow he felt something when he saw her all battered up and bruised.

"Gaara what are you thinking about?" He heard Temari asked from behind him.

"Nothing Temari, I'm just watching over Suna." He replied his gaze still roaming his town.

"Gaara don't take me for a fool, whatever you're thinking of you can tell me, and I'm not one of your councilors you can tell me anything." Temari said walking closer to her brother.

"Go and get some rest Temari, I'll patrol the south gate." He said then left her.

Kankuro saw everything that had transpired between his siblings, the burden of being the Kazekage was weighing down on Gaara, he knows that and he is willing to take some of the burden but Gaara won't talk to him or Temari for anything.

Morning was only a few more hours away, another day for the Sunagakure. Gaara did his duties as the Kage, day in and day out, it seemed like it was only a routine, he did everything as perfectly as he could, he knew what he was doing and he knew he's doing it for his people, whatever possessed him to bring back Sera here he still doesn't know.

He knew each and every complication that it could entail, but she already left so he could move on, on what he should do for his people. So why he feeling down?

Suddenly one of his anbu came into his office. "Is there something wrong?" He asked his face filled with concern.

"Kazekage-sama, there seems to be another disturbance near Konoha, a group of unknown people are attacking them right this moment." The anbu reported.

This is too much for Konoha, Pain's attack was only few months ago, the whole village is still in shambles. "Prepare for an aid, we will go and help Konoha." He replied. Right now, above else he will have to be a Kazekage.

_The moment she felt the commotion she instantly went towards it. She could feel who it was. She only breezed through the village a month ago but she can't believe that it was attacked by her enemies. _

_She brought out the scroll that was entrusted to her by her family, she has to save these people, and after all it was her fault in the first place._

_In her mind she concentrated her spell, she let her mind form the words and summoned a giant blade with a scribe Hades on it. The blade was as big as she is, and she wasn't supposed to bring it out unless it was an emergency, but this is beyond emergency. She ran towards the village as fast as she could and in no time she saw them, the Lycos, the group that has been trying to usurp the power in her kingdom. _

_There are only two of them but the village was already a disaster and they've only start to rebuild it, even she may find it difficult to face them. But here goes nothing._

_She charged immediately towards her enemy before they reached the gates of the village. "I thought so you're here!" The leader of the Lycos said, his big round eyes looking her._

_She stayed silent, what else can she do, she simply did her stance, her Hades was readied for defense and offense, all she needs is to touch him and victory will be hers. _

"_How uncannily silent you are…" He said in his dubious voice. But as for her she cannot retort, she merely glared at him and sprung unto him to attack. She swung her sword towards him and he blocked it with ease. _

_Sera gritted her teeth just then the other member of Lycos attacked her, but she blocked it just in time using a roundhouse backhand rolling kick. She unsummoned her sword, deciding that it was better to fight them on hand to hand combat since there are two of them. _

_She took off one of her limiters, one of her earrings on her left ear, thinking that she needs that extra flow of nen through her body. She concentrated her aura to her arms and legs, for speed and strength before she launched herself on a full attack. A succession of roundhouse kicks towards the leader all the while protecting herself. Finally she used an open palm punch straight to the leader's stomach effectively touching him, his mind opening up to her. With her devilish smile she finished she assault. She pulled the leader towards her half closing her fist and striking at the enemy's chest and stomach, effectively cutting off his air supply and temporarily stopping his heart. The giant man kneeled down and dropped out cold on the ground._

_Now she turned her attention towards the sidekick. She wouldn't even bother putting effort in attacking, after he's a mere weakling depending on his leader's strength._

_She merely forged a rope out of her nen aura and lassoed him towards her. A few wounded people came towards her warily until one of them gave her a very familiar goofy smile._

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_**author's note: this chapter might be a bit sucky but please bare with me this is my first fan fiction and usually I do mysteries with gun fights, please comment on how should I improve my fight scenes. and thanks in advance.**


	5. Five

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND ITS CHARACTERS; BUT I DO OWN GENZHOU SERA AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT HAS GOT SOMETHING TO DO WITH HER.**

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**CHAPTER FIVE**

Gaara hurried to Konoha, according to his anbu earlier Konoha was under attack. He doesn't know what state Konoha will be in, since it would take approximately two to three days to reach Konoha. He didn't have to go there he knows that, but he was worried about his friends.

After a couple of days of none stop travel with a few jounins on his party Gaara, reached Konoha without a problem.

Once Gaara reached the gates of Konoha familiar faces greeted him. "Good morning Gaara!" a blonde haired blue eyed boy greeted enthusiastically. Beside him was a smiling pinkette with a large smile and the other one was a tall platinum haired man with a mask covering most of his face.

"Naruto, how are you? I heard that you were attacked so we came here as soon as we could." Gaara said.

"We're okay! Of course with me here there's nothing Konoha can't handle." He boasted.

Sakura palm faced him to the ground. "Whaddya mean you stupid monkey, you weren't even there until the very end!"

"Well I would've saved the day if I were here ya know!" He retorted rashly.

"Now, now the two of you please don't fight." Kakashi said in his infamous lazy voice. "Kazekage-sama, we're terribly sorry that you have to rush here again just after coming here last week. Hokage-sama would like to speak with you."

"Of course, I will go there immediately." Gaara said. "Please stay here until I give further instructions." He commanded then followed Kakashi to the Hokage tower, leaving Naruto and his troop of jounins behind.

It wasn't long before they reached the Hokage tower. "I'll take my leave now Kazekage-sama…" Kakashi said before leaving Gaara at the Hokage's door.

He simply walked in and found Konoha's Hokage, her ash blond hair parted in a pigtail, her blue eyes sharp as ever, Tsunade stood there and made an imposing image of herself. "Gaara, welcome again to Konoha." She greeted her arms in an open gesture.

"I heard what happened and I just have to come here immediately and see if we Sunagakure could help." Gaara stated.

"Right now, what we need is help in rebuilding the village, we were just fortunate that there was someone who interfered with the attackers when Yamato and Naruto were training with Bee." Tsunade said.

"I'm glad to hear that…" Gaara said, clearly relief washing over his face.

"Are you in a hurry to leave?" Tsunade asked.

"Not really…"

"Great, then can you do me a favor."

"Anything, as long as I can achieve it in my power."

"If you could, then please protect the person who saved us from this predicament. As it turns out they were her enemies. Their strengths are a force to be reckoned with, and with her defeating them it may be that she is strong but right now she seems very much weakened." Tsunade said explaining her favor to Gaara.

"I'll see what I can do." Gaara replied sincerely. Gaara noticed how worried Tsunade was, and of course he will do anything he can to help out the Hokage.

"Then please follow me, and let's see how's she doing." Tsunade said leading Gaara out of the office.

Konoha was still under recovery, some parts of the village was still unrepaired but for most of it it's already underway. "How is Konoha holding up Lady Tsunade?"

"Things seemed to be looking up now, especially that your help arrived a lot earlier than anticipated." She jokingly replied, when all of the sudden, there was this raven haired girl running towards them.

"Tsunade-sama!" She screamed loudly.

"What is it Shizune is there another emergency?" Tsunade demanded.

"The Mage requests that she would see the prisoners…" Shizune repled.

"Mage?" Gaara asked.

"As she explained, she is a high ranking official in her village, Mage is the title given to an individual that has special abilities that works under their leader, anyway that is what she told us." Tsunade answered.

With that Gaara thought that how uncannily similar to Sera, but in all honesty he doesn't know where she is at the moment. In a few moments they reached where they detained the attackers, Naruto stood outside looking curiously at the new comers.

"Hi Baa-chan! Gaara! Shizune!" He greeted them, " Sakura and Sai are inside with the Mage, she looks kind of pretty but she doesn't talk much!" He said.

"Naruto shut up! Please stop embarrassing yourself!" Sakura said emerging from the room. "Tsunade-sama, she is already inside with Sai." She said bowing respectfully before her master.

Tsunade sighed "Really what is that girl thinking…" Tsunade mumbled more to herself.

Both of the Kages went in, Sai greeted them respectfully by the doorway before revealing what had transpired, "Good morning Tsunade-sama; Gaara-sama, the mage has requested that she talk to the prisoners, she said that she need to find out something." And then they found three people cowering at the corner of the room while one girl stood majestically at the center of it, her hair in the shade of gold was neatly braided, her back was on them but as she merely stood there, clothed in a black cloak with a familiar symbol to Gaara.

"I hope you don't mind Tsunade-sama that I came here without warning." She spoke, before turning to face them.

Gaara was surprised to see her, she looked exactly like Sera, except for the fact that she was a lot taller than her and her features are more refined. "My name is Genzhou Sandra…" She introduced herself, she tilted her head and looked at Gaara, "and you seemed very much surprised."

"You said that your name is Genzhou Sandra?" Gaara repeated.

"Yes, General of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Knights, also a Rank-S Mage under the church of Eterne." She replied. "And you," she said pointing at Gaara, "You have my sister's scent, its faint but I can still smell her on you…"

"Yes, she left the village of Sunagakure a couple of days ago…" He replied.

"I see…" Was all she said very thoughtfully, "is she well?"

"Yes, but she seemed weakened, she did say that someone stole her voice…"

"What?" She asked menacingly he jade green eyes wide in shock.

All of them were shocked on how cold her voice became, even Naruto looked inside the room now. "She told me that her voice was stolen." Gaara said again.

"And you just let her go?" She questioned. "Half of her power _is_ her voice, that's her main ability she's a Tokushitsu, her voice is her aura, it almost the half of it!" She said then she turned to the prisoners once more. "YOU BETTER GIVE ME WHATEVER STONE YOU HAVE WITH YOU UNLESS YOU WANTED TO BE GUTTED ALIVE!" She said obviously now in a very bad mood.

"I don't have anything with me!" He pleaded.

"Don't you dare lie to me, for the Lycos to send you here, and it's a near impossibility that they'd send you empty handed especially if they know that the Knights are on your tail." She reasoned with a sharp scalpel pointed at her enemy's throat.

"Please don't kill me! The only thing I have is the yogen no ishi…" He said bringing out a small black polished stone set in an ornate clasped chain.

The Mage smiled wryly, "How ironic. You have the stone of prophecy yet you didn't see your own defeat." She said taking the stone from him, she promptly drew a symbol on the ground then raised her hand towards the prisoners. "I hope you don't mind Tsunade-sama, I'll deal with the prisoners my own way." She said. "Watashi , Sandra , eterne no mage , haanatawo shin'en no ke^ji ni ika serudeshou" she chanted. A blinding light enveloped the prisoners and soon enough they were gone.

Everyone in the room very much surprised. "Wha… what happened…" Naruto asked.

"Oh, don't worry they are still alive, first rule of Buddha, is not to kill any living creature. So I merely teleported them to my kingdom, one of the perks of being a Mage…" She nonchalantly explained. She gripped the yogen no ishi in her hands, then closed her eyes and whispered something that no else could've heard.

"Are you a Buddhist?" Sakura asked.

She simply smiled and answered. "No, but we are taught that life in all living beings are important, even lowlifes like them." She opened her palm and there they saw a picture of Sera, wearing a navy blue sleeveless shirt and fishnet sleeveless undershirt and the matching shorts, she was surrounded by an unfamiliar people, but they don't seem hostile, and well in fact they seemed friendly. Several banners and flaglets were displayed on the background.

Gaara noticed that she is now sporting a tattoo on her left arm that inscribed as Oni Hime or the Demon Princess. He was one hundred percent sure that Sera didn't have that tattoo previously, since it wasn't in the report that Sekka gave to him and beside she usually wears sleeveless shirts it was too obvious to miss it.

"Really that girl is trying my patience." Sandra said angrily. "I know her power has lessened quite considerably but it was inexcusable to take off a Limiter!" She said exasperatingly, she pocketed the stone then faced Gaara and Tsunade. "I know it might be rude of me but can I have a strong piece of paper?" She asked.

Sai gave her a piece of his drawing sheet, which she unceremoniously folded systematically and in no time it transformed into a paper hawk.

"Wow how did you do that!" Naruto said admiring the mage's handy work.

"It was fairly simple really, it was taught in our classes the basic of Origami, it will be up to us to expand our own version of the art of paper folding, but enough about that, where ever my sister is, I need to talk to her immediately." She said extending her arm in the air, the paper bird unexpectedly became animated, he flapped his wings like a real bird and started to fly. "Do you know the symbol that symbol that was on the flag behind my sister?"

"That is the symbol of Kusagakure." Tsunade replied.

"I assume that it's a peaceful village?" She ventured.

"Don't worry they are our allies…" The Hokage replied in all confidence.


	6. Six

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO... BUT I DO OWN SERA-CHAN AND EVERYTHING ABOUT HER... **

**PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT WHEN YOU READ ON HOW TO IMPROVE MY WRITING THANKS A BUNCH...**

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**CHAPTER SIX**

Gaara left his troops in Konoha, and then headed for Kusagakure with Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Kakashi. They had to give a convincing argument for the Mage to stay behind in Konoha.

"Hey Gaara, how did you meet you the mage's sister?" Naruto asked dying of curiosity.

"We found her half dead on our way home last week." Gaara simply replied and didn't bother expanding it.

"Oh! What is she like?"

"She looks just like her sister..." He replied.

Naruto's face fell, he knew that Gaara was never the one for words but this is getting annoying. "Can't you tell a little more Gaara?"

"What is there to tell? I only saw her a few times in the week..."

"Just leave him alone, it's not like she's Gaara's girlfriend or anything." Sakura said, now being annoyed by Naruto's inquiry.

"We're only a day away from Kusa please don't make me regret accepting this mission..." Kakashi said stopping the two from fighting each other.

"By the way Kakashi-sensei, have you heard of Sharaku before?" Sai asked.

"Yeah, sensei, I don't think I've heard that before too..." Sakura agreed.

"Actually, for me too, I've never heard of it before." Kakashi replied honestly.

"Sharaku is a small island off the far east in the coast of Sunagakure, the island is governed by a king that holds both political and military powers over the kingdom." Gaara said recalling some of the information that Sera gave him.

"Wow Gaara how did you know that?" Naruto asked amazed.

"Sera told me."

"Wait I thought you don't talk to her?" Naruto asked again suspiciously.

"Are you dumb or what? Of course he'd have to ask that he found her after all!" Sakura replied for Gaara.

"Oh my, here they go again..." Sai said then sped up ahead, together with Kakashi and Gaara.

_Sera sat in the middle of the forest trying to gather energy around her. She needs her seimeiryoku, and without a willing donor she could simply gather energy that surrounds nature. Of course the human seimeiryoku is different from the seimeiryoku of nature, but her energy is very low right now, and she can't afford to be picky._

_The ancient writings that she drew around her started to glow and the gust of wind started to pick up, she relaxed her body and started to feel the energy coming inside her body, her senses sharpened. She could feel every movement in the forest from the wind rustling around her to the distant travellers coming her way. She felt them as she was with them, they have amazing speed to cover the grounds at a fast pace, two men are in the front, one in the middle and two more people, one man and one a woman at the flank. _

_She drew hand symbols opening her Ten in order to gather more seimeiryoku for her Nen, when she noticed a bird circling over head._

"Hey guys do you feel that?" Naruto said alert all of the sudden.

Everyone stopped running, and then tried to find out what Naruto said. "I don't feel anything." Sai commented.

Gaara tried to sharpen his senses, when suddenly he felt a familiar chakra, it was weak but he definitely felt it. "It the mage's sister, come on." He said foll the direction of the chakra flow.

In no time they reached a clearing, and indeed they found the mage's sister, Sera was in deep concentration, but what was so amazing is the what they saw.

Sera was covered in a sheer blue light, there was even a circular marks around the ground she was meditating on, air seemed to fill around her, when all of the sudden the paper hawk that the Mage made earlier landed on Sera's lap cutting off her concentration, making all of the light and symbols disappear around.

At first she looked annoyed then looked at them her cheeks puffed up in anger. Then she opened the water gourd beside her and poured it all over the bird, the bird melted then a stone came out. She merely sighed then finally stood up and walked to them.

"Are you Genzhou Sera?" Naruto asked.

She looked at Naruto dumbfounded, then cocked her head to one side and sighed.

"Is that a yes?" He prompted once more.

"Your sister sent us," Gaara said.

She merely crossed her arms across her breast and looked at him.

"Well aren't you going to talk?" Sakura said.

She looked around and found a long pointy stick and then started to write on the ground. "I can't talk, my voice is stolen." She merely wrote.

"Sera, your sister said that she would like to speak with you." Gaara said still looking straight at her.

"Yeah, I'm very well aware of that thank you." She said then started to move away from them.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kakashi asked this time.

She pointed to the village of Kusa and started to walk without looking back.

"Well that went well." Sai commented.

"Come on let's just follow her in the mean time." Kakashi suggested. Well there was nothing else to do but follow her.

She walked quite relaxed the air around her started to rustle, emitting energy.

"Oi! Sera-chan... you said you'll be going soon are you travelling again?" Said a stranger.

Sera wrote something on the ground again. "Yeah, I have, it seems that my sister is calling for me." She replied.

"Oh I see, so how about the criminals you just caught?" The stranger asked again.

Sera smiled a devilish smile and wrote. "Oh don't worry I'll bring them with me, the typhoon a few weeks ago is still too much for you."

The stranger laughed, "Yeah, I guess you're right, anyway just tell the Soncho, when you will be leaving." He replied, he was walking pass her when he just noticed that there were a group of people behind her. "Hey, Sera what are these guys doing here?" He whispered but wasn't really a whisper.

Kakashi cleared his throat and then spoke for the group. "We are sent her to escort Sera-sama back to her sister that is waiting in Konoha."

The stranger was dumbfounded when all of the sudden he realized who was he talking to. "Gah! Kakashi-sensei! And the Kazekage!" He said taken aback.

"Hey what are we chopped liver?" Said Naruto, both Sai and Sakura mearely sighed.

Sera tapped the guy on the shoulder and did hand signs that was unfamiliar but the stranger seemed to know it. He just nodded and smiled then pointed to a direction. Sera smiled then nodded in acknowledgement then ran to that direction quiet happily

"Excuse me, the hand signs you did. What are they?" Gaara asked.

"Oh, they are called sign language, Sera-san thought this village a while back, it's handy in reconnaissance missions you know." He merely replied.


	7. Seven

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND ITS CHARACTER; BUT I DO OWN THE CHARACTER GONZHOU SERA AND HER BACKGROUND. **

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**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_Sera walked in the village looking for the Soncho(_i)_ and she wasn't at all disappointed when she finally found him._

_He was sitting under his usual willow tree near a small creek his eyes closed but very much alert. His long snowy hair was neatly braided and his smooth face relaxed but his body was well alerted to his surroundings. The young man opened his kind sapphire eyes then looked expectantly at Sera. "So what brings you here my child?" he asked._

"_Don't call me my child you are not that old, you're only 25 for goodness sake, anyway I'm going to have to leave soon __Soncho__-san." She wrote on the ground._

_"I see, so when will you be going?"_

"_I still don't know I was interrupted earlier in gathering enough seimeiryoku." She replied._

"_You and I both know that there is a much faster way to gather sei…"_

_Sera merely puffed her cheeks and shook her head vehemently. "It's too dangerous Soncho, you know that! Especially now I took off one of my Limiters I don't have proper control over my aura."_

"_If you have strong enough donor to withstand the process then you would have no problems at all. You can't even perform a psychic surgery to extract the sacred stone from your enemy's body." _

"_What do you mean by a strong enough donor?" Sera and Soncho heard a very familiar voice from behind._

"_Ah, Kazekage-sama it is a great honor for such a humble village to receive a visit from young and accomplished leader as yourself." Soncho elaborately greeted._

_Sera shook her head profusely, not wanting mere strangers be involved with her problems. "But, Sera-chan, if they could help you, your own mission would much faster to accomplish." Soncho answered the unspoken question._

"_Oi! Oji-san how come you know what's going on with the Mage's sister?" A loud boy asked impetuously._

"_Naruto!" The girl with pink hair exclaimed angrily shutting up the blond haired boy._

_Soncho looked at Sera expectantly but she merely sighed in defeat. Soncho smiled, his all knowing smile then turned his attention to the group. "I may be the Soncho in this village but before I came to these lands, about ten years ago, I was working under the Rule of the King of Sharaku, I know the customs and traditions in that Kingdom because I was a citizen as well as a soldier there." He replied as Sera rolled her eyes in exasperation. _

"_So what did you mean by a strong enough donor?" Sai asked this time._

"_You know that all of us use chakra and the principles of Ninjutsu right?" Soncho asked as everyone agreed. "The people of Sharaku are quite different in that manner, not only that they use their chakra but also they have another form of mastery of aura control and it is called Nen. Nen used a kind of aura that is present in everything but in different levels and there are three types of these auras, the first is the Ningen no Seimeiryoku(_ii)_, the second is the Shinzen no Seimeiryoku(_iii)_ and the last is Kyumin-chu no Seimeiryoku(_iv)_." Soncho explained._

"_The Ningen no Sei is the most important to Nen user, it is what we generally use and we could normally generate ourselves. The Shinzen no Sei is what is present in the natural beings and objects like a plants and animals, and the third is the Kyumin-chu no Sei, a type of sei that is merely stored in an object created by the first two seis." He continued._

"_So what Sera-sama was doing earlier was gathering Shinzen no Sei?" The platinum haired man asked through his face mask._

_Sera curtly nodded, these things shouldn't even be in the knowledge of an outsider, and Soncho merely chuckled at her obvious annoyance, which made her more infuriated. "Sera-chan these people have to at least know the basics in order to protect you more effectively." _

"_So why couldn't she generate her own Sei then? You said that you guys could do it yourselves." The pinkette asked this time._

"_Sera-chan's Nen ability is categorized as Tokushitsu, even for Nen users it's a very special type of ability. When her voice was stole, her Nen flow is severely disrupted leaving her with a difficulty of controlling the flow itself, having problems with generating and releasing it herself, right now her skills and abilities as a Nen user is quite unstable." _

"_Oh so now you need a donor for Ningen no Sei!" Naruto said tapping his fist to his open palm._

"_That is correct."_

"_So basically Nen is chakra but in a different form!" Naruto added again._

"_Yes exactly!"_

"_So how do you transfer sei from one person to another?" Sai asked._

_Soncho grinned. "I think Sera-chan should be the one answering that question…"_

_Then all of the sudden all attention was on her. Her eyebrows knitted together, she knew she won't tell no matter what. This was a private matter and Soncho told them more than what was supposed to be told. She crossed her arms not wanting to partake in this crazy conversation, which only made Soncho laugh. "Forgive Sera-chan, it seems that she doesn't want to say anything." _

_Sera reached for Soncho and touched his hand. "Soncho please don't say anything anymore, they are not supposed to know these things! You should know that!" Sera said passing her thoughts to Soncho._

_Soncho looked at her in the eye and simply smiled. "Sera-chan for whatever reason for not telling them is completely up to you and I will respect that!" Soncho replied letting her read his mind._

_Sera sighed then turned her gaze to the others, then wrote on the ground. "These things are for the knowledge of the Servant of the Court and not outsiders." _

"_So why did Soncho tell us on the first place?" Naruto insisted._

_Sera became impatient which clearly had showed on her face, the group was taken aback, oh how she longed to speak once more! She kneeled on the ground and drew circles and symbols then spread her hand over blocking out Naruto's senses then him dropping to the ground._

_Soncho chuckled wholeheartedly. "I haven't seen that technique in years! Only in your family my dear Sera-chan!" _

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**THE THREE TYPES OF SEI IS COMPLETELY MY OWN FICTION, THOUGH THE PRINCIPLE OF NEN IS NOT, I PICKED IT FROM HUNTER X HUNTER. HOPE YOU GUYS WOULD COMMENT ON HOW I DID THIS CHAPTER AND PLEASE COMMENT IF IT IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE AT ALL. IF ANY OF THE CHARACTERS WERE A BIT OC, I DIDN'T MEAN TO AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TELL ME.**

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i Soncho – village chief

ii Ningen no Seimeiryoku – human life force

iii Shinzen no Seimeiryoku – Nature's Life force

iv Kyumin-chu no Seimeiryoku – dormant Life Force


	8. Eight

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, BUT I DO OWN SERA –CHAN AND HER BACKGROUND THANKS! **

**PLEASE R & R, AND LET ME KNOW HOW AM I DOING SO FAR.

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**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Whatever kind of technique she did she knocked out Naruto for whole day now. The Soncho did explain that it wasn't for harm, and Gaara had to agree since he couldn't find any damages to his friend. After the incident yesterday Soncho suggested that they stay here in the meantime as Sera disappeared in the forest once more.

"So any luck yet? Is he still unconscious?" Kakashi asked as he entered through the door.

"Yeah, but he doesn't seemed injured, I think she just cut off his consciousness." Sakura replied.

"No injuries huh? I wonder how she did that. Didn't you say that her chakra is low and unstable?" Sakura asked Soncho.

"It's not her chakra that is unstable it is her Nen." Soncho replied.

"So what did she do? It's quite an impressive technique." Kakashi asked.

The young man smiled. "It's a technique called Heisa(i), it closes all of you sensory abilities, it's just basically knocks you out until the Heisa is lifted." Soncho replied.

"Oh, so it's forced coma?" Sakura replied.

"That is correct." Soncho replied.

"You also said yesterday that it only in Sera-sama's family?" Sai asked.

"Yes, it's a technique that only uses Shinzen no Sei that was developed by the people of Akuma no Chi(ii)," Soncho said with a chuckle, "though they aren't really demonic, anyway these people are Sera-chan's ancestors, they created a fighting style that would use less of your energy and that would cause few or no damage to the opponent but effectively making them immobile." He was saying when all of the sudden a kunai zipped pass him just barely missing his ear.

Everyone in the room became alert Soncho merely took the kunai from the wall and read the letter that came with it. After a while, and few curious glances from everyone, Soncho decided to read the letter out loud. "Soncho, you really should stop saying these things to these people. How many times to I have to remind you that they are outsiders to my people and they shouldn't know!" Soncho merely laughed, he could just imagine Sera-chan's frustrations, and he heard the loud footsteps of Sera.

"My, my, looking very angry Sera-chan." Soncho teased.

Sera's gaze travelled from each person in the room, then finally to the sleeping boy on the bed, she merely sighed and made hand sign as she approached the boy then simply touched him.

Naruto instantaneously shot up, confused on what was happening. "Wha… where am I?" He asked looking around.

"We're in the Soncho's house Naruto." Kakashi replied. "Tell me, what was the last thing you remember?"

Naruto pondered for a bit then "The last thing I remember was asking Oji-san(iii) something and then nothing!"

Sera sighed and made hand signs again, this time directed at Soncho, everyone was curious on what was going on?

"I see, you don't have to leave earlier than you have to… I know your sister could probably help you better, but even if you don't look like it, you're still pretty much in a weak condition."

Sera simply shook her head and then did a series of hand signs.

"I agree, I'll get my men prepare your prisoners, are you really sure that you need to take them?"

Sera nodded eagerly.

"Say what's going on?" Naruto asked.

Sera merely sighed and shook her head.

Soncho smiled at them and said "Nothing, Sera-chan simply expressed her wishes to leave earlier than she had planned."

"Great then we will leave tonight." Gaara said obviously startling Sera.

Gaara just sat by the window calmly his gaze intent on hers, none of them really wanted to look away and just stared at each other.

Finally after Soncho cleared his throat, Sera nodded and moved out.

"Ok… that was awkward…" Naruto commented looking at Gaara then at the door.

Gaara just stared at Naruto blankly looked away. Gaara's mind was filled with questions. First off, what is going on, even though he was there he didn't really understand what was going on with Sera, and what the Soncho was saying was merely facts about the people of Sharaku and not Sera herself, second if there is a much faster way on gathering what she needed then why doesn't she take it? Especially if she really thought that it was very important for her to finish her mission as soon as possible? And lastly even though the Soncho expressed familiarity with her he still held her in respect even though there is obvious seniority favouring the man. It couldn't be because her sister is the Mage or whatever, still seniority or superiority ruled.

"Oi Gaara what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking." Gaara replied.

Naruto simply looked at. "Oh OK" He answered and left it at that.

"If we're leaving tonight, it would be better if we start preparing for the journey." Kakashi suggested and everyone agreed.

Gaara always travelled, aside from the fact that Kusa was just a day away, he really only need his sand filled gourd and a few basic medical supply.

It wasn't long before night fall, usually ninjas travelled by day and rested by night, but with this kind of logic, Gaara also thought that maybe it would be better for them to travel by night fall, they would be concealed by the darkness of the night, the mission that was given just before they left, the request coming directly from the person involved and the Hokage and it was also to their advantage that Gaara knows the fastest and safest way to Konoha.

Gaara and the others were waiting at the gates when Sera went up to them riding in a wagon with her two prisoners on the wagon.

"Do we need to take those people?" Gaara asked Sera.

Sera motioned him to come closer to her then she touched his cheek which surprised Gaara very much. "I'm afraid so, these people committed a grave crime against the Kingdom of Sharaku and so they will be on trial there." She explained.

Later into the night, the forest that Gaara led them to was dense and the wagon had a difficult time passing through.

"Come on! You should've just left them back there!" Naruto whined. They couldn't travel faster by jumping from one tree to another.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but, yeah I mean I can't see the point of dragging these two criminals back to Konoha." Sakura agreed.

Sera merely sighed keeping quiet while holding the reigns of the horses.

"Come on guys, we may not know but I'm sure Sera-sama has her reasons." Kakashi defended her.

Sera replied with a bright smile, and despite the path being dark and probably dangerous, she maneuvered the bulky wagon expertly, suddenly she reigned in the horse stopping them effectively.

"Is there something wrong?" Sai asked from the rear.

Sera brought her index finger to her lips motioning them to keep silent. Then she tugged her ear before placed her palm behind it.

Gaara, despite the message being vague, understood what she meant and sharpened his own senses. Whatever Sera heard or at least didn't hear, Gaara was sure she was right. The forest was too quiet that even sound of cicadas can't be heard.

"Darn it! I didn't sense them at all!" Naruto said, frustrated in the situation they are in. Gaara knew that his ability to sense chakra even from a distance is impressive resulting from his training from the Toad Sage, Jiraya.

"Patience Naruto!" Sai demanded as he prepared his scroll and brush on hand. The team formed a defensive circle around the wagon. Their bodies tensed at the upcoming battle as each person readied their weapons of choice.

Sera started forming hand signs, a warm aura started to form around her and in no time she started to weld it into fine web-like fashion in the surrounding area. After Sera finished her web, it then started to reverberate creating low pitched sounds until it slowly produced an understandable conversation.

"They're not that far off, let's just wait for them to come a little closer..." A gruff sounding voice was heard.

"The Kazekage is with them, just who is the one that hired us anyway, what's so important with that girl for her to have a Kage as a guard." Another questioned.

"Don't know and don't care, as long as we get paid and the guy only wanted the girl dead or alive as long as we get her there'd be no problems..."

"All I'm sayin' is this might be dangerous, the Kage of Suna is with'em and that ain't normal." The other complained.

Suddenly the sounds became scratchy then Gaara felt a sudden surge of power. The fine web suddenly widened that everyone turned to Sera. It was evident that she was in hurting her pretty was distorted in a painful expression. Sure enough they weren't the only ones, who felt it.

In no time at all the enemies had already surrounded them.

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i Heisa – closed off

ii Akuma no chi – Demonic Blood

iii Oji-san – Uncle


	9. Nine

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS, BUT I DO OWN SERA-CHAN AND HER BACKGROUND.**

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**CHAPTER NINE**

"Oh my, isn't this a bit of an overkill just to capture one girl…" Kakashi commented on with a lazy tone.

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" One of the fifteen perpetrators said vehemently.

Sera jumped down from the wagon with a small scroll at hand then she silently searched the crowd.

"What are you going?" Gaara demanded blocking her way, though he never did expect her to answer.

She simply looked at him straight in the eye then put her hand over one of the numerous symbols then with a puff of white smoke the scroll was replaced by an ornate sword with dragon markings at the hilt. Gaara was still blocking her way, he knows that they won't have any problems with defending her and those damned prisoners even if she doesn't help. "Don't dare stop me, you guys can fight the small fries but someone is protecting them using the technique Shu(i)… and he has to be close if he is protecting these many people…" She said then started to move.

Gaara reluctantly moved out of the way but he still held her hand. "Come on Gaara, you know I have to do this. I have to face this guy and I know you guys can't handle him, he uses mixed techniques as you can clearly see…" Her thought passing through his mind while pointing out that the enemies that have are still at full power and a reddish aura was protecting their bodies. He squeezed her hands then finally letting her go.

The moment he let go of her, his hand felt cold but for the first time in his life his heart felt a different kind of warmth. She smiled at him once, and then headed for the forest.

"Hey where are you going?" Naruto demanded.

"Sera said that she'll look for the person responsible for this!" Gaara replied making hand signs at the same time. Sand started coming of his gourd, and attacking five people simultaneously.

"Hey!" Sakura exclaimed after being nearly hit.

"We have to fight them off!" Gaara ordered.

All of them nodded in agreement, Sai took out his scroll and paint brush "Choju Giga(ii)!" He shouted the lion drawings came to life.

Sakura charged her fists with her chakra then started charging at her enemies Kakashi on the other started doing his hand seals. Naruto did his signature move, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. They attacked and defended, as the rouge ninjas attacked all at once but as the second go by, they noticed something amiss.

"What's wrong with these people? I know I've landed solid hits!" Sakura complained. Then the channelled her chakra into her fingers instead of her whole fist. "Chakra no Mesu(iii)!" She said flinging out her chakra in quick successions. She noticed that the enemy that was hit winced!

"Sera said that someone is using a technique to protect them…" Gaara replied as he expertly manipulated his sand.

"Wait! That's not fair at all!" Naruto yelled.

"Guys wait, whoever this is, they can only protect the physical body to outside elements, if we focus our abilities to damage the insides directly we won't have problems!" Sakura said overjoyed with her discovery.

"Yeah, that's good to hear and all Sakura but apparently you're the only one who could do that!" Naruto replied.

Gaara went all out this time, he now knew what Sera meant that she needs to find whoever was responsible, and in truth he doesn't know the concept of Nen so even if Sera is considerably at a weak state right now, she's the only one that could find the master mind of this attack.

The battle now is in total chaos different jutsus are everywhere. "This is getting crazier by the moment…" Kakashi said as he finally drew out a kunai.

"Whoever is protecting them, he's doing a fantastic job, we've been at it for some time now and their defences haven't even dropped." Sai commented as he summoned another set of animated animals. The rogue ninjas just refused to be crushed, they kept attacking confident that whoever was backing them up would not let them down.

Gaara had risen his sand preparing for an all out attack "Subaku Sosoiv!" He shouted, hoping to finally end this, when suddenly a loud explosion was heard then something was heading their way in a very fast.

Upon impact the ground broke into a small crater. Everyone fell back including the enemies. When the dust cleared, Gaara saw Sera in a weakened state. Her eyes were closed and her chakra was very weak.

"Foolish girl!" Shouted a man emerging from the forest. "Do you think that you can take me on at pathetic state you're in!" He mocked. He wore his long blazing red hair loosely, his golden eyes glinted in malice.

"Try to keep them busy! I'll go and get Sera!" Gaara said heading to where Sera was. The stranger attacked but Gaara fended him off easily with his Suna no Yoroi(v). When Gaara reached her she was trying to get up but was too beaten to move. "What's with you? You seem to enjoy getting beat down!" Gaara said to her as he kneeled down to help her. "Hey Sera wake up!" Gaara said shaking her gently as the sand protected them from offense from the enemy.

Sera moaned in pain, as she opened her eyes a bit. Suddenly her hand shot up and grabbed his collar, her sudden movement caused him surprise, but what shocked him the most was now her lips were unto his. He felt warmth leaving his body starting from the feet but before the coldness reached his knees Sera let go of him, energy flared back up. Green aura started to envelop her body one more time that she twirled her sword and made a fighting stance.

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i Shu – an advanced Nen ability that allows the user to extend the aura to objects

ii Choju Giga – Super Beast Immitation Picture

iii Chakra no Mesu – Chakra Scalpel

iv Subaku Soso – Sand waterfall funeral

v Suna no Yoroi – Armor of Sand


	10. Ten

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO BUT I DO OWN THE CHARACTER SERA-CHAN AND HER BACKGROUND. THANKS.**

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW SO I KNOW HOW AM I DOING SO FAR.

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**CHAPTER TEN**

_She certainly didn't plan that, but drastic times calls for drastic measures. Good thing Gaara was too shocked to do anything, she drew out her sword, the Ryu wa Ryoba(_i_) and started to whirl it around then she did her stance, her right knee was bent as her left leg was extended to the side, her left arm was extended forward her palm open and the right hand that held the sword suspended over head. She must concentrate she knew that the sei she got from Gaara won't last long._

_Her enemy attacked head, Sera easily defended herself using her open her palm, pushing the enemy's sword to the side then attacking using her right hand that welded the sword._

"Don't tell me I saw what I just saw..." Naruto said going to Gaara's side.

Gaara snapped out of his trance-like state, and then glared at his friend.

"First time I see you glare too..." Naruto snickered.

"Now's not the time..." He replied as he stood up, he dusted his robes then tried to call for his sand to gather. "And besides I think I just discovered how she gets to transfer Ningen to Sei from one person to another." He commented, and then he ordered his sand to once again attack the enemies once more.

Naruto smiled sheepishly then started doing Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again. "Yeah you're right, and besides I'm done playing!" He said then he and his clones started gathering chakra at his palms. "Rasengan!" He yelled attacking all the rouge ninjas head on. All of their enemies were hit, making them unconscious.

"Naruto don't go overboard like that... Please be more careful next time..." Kakashi replied as he went near them.

"I guess so..." Naruto replied scratching the back of his head and Kakashi just sighed.

"Where is Sera?" Sai asked particularly to no one.

Again, Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Last time I saw her she was sucking face with Gaara then went on to battle!"

Everyone was dumbfounded at the information, Gaara glared at Naruto and said. "She took some sei from me, it's not that big of a deal!" He replied a tad bit harshly.

"Yeah, well it seems like it, look over there she's fighting rather fiercely." Sai said pointing out to the fight that was happening overhead.

The man with the flaming red hair was using a spear whereas Sera is using her double edged sword.

Both of them broke out of the fighting they were engaged and stood poised a few feet of each other. The man changed stance his body was relaxed his feet apart as his both hands held the spear pointed at Sera, she on the other, her right leg is straight firmly on the ground, her left leg was raised and knee bent, left arm extended forward with an open palm and her right hand holding the sword angled down.

In a glimpse on an eye the enemy attacked, trusting his spear forward but Sera evade sliding under him, she made a quick turn and attacked him, but blocked it easily using his spear. The sound of metal hitting metal rang through the dense forest. The both of them looked graceful and lithe as they tried to best each other.

_It was a deadly dance, Sera was well aware of that, and she needn't to worry about the rouges that this person had hired, she knew that they were already taken cared off. She didn't dare stray her gaze off his enemy as she tried desperately to find an opening for an effective offence. She kept on attacking, knowing that she needs to finish this as quickly as possible, the Sei that she borrowed from Gaara won't last that long and if this keeps up she'll be in deep trouble. _

All of them were amazed how skilful the two were with the weapons, most of the moves were too fast to see but it seems that Sera was getting the upper hand. They saw them twist and turn, attack and defend. Sera did a rotation landing the enemy a solid hit on the spear causing him to be pushed back a couple of meters. Sera was into the defensive mode instantly as she walked backwards slowly.

"Hey, shouldn't we help her? I mean just watching her feels wrong..." Sakura said quietly her eyes glued onto Sera.

"I don't think so... we'll just be in her way, I mean did you see how they fight?" Naruto replied.

"Yeah but at this state, she'll suffer from exhaustion." Sakura said adamantly.

"Let's just watch for now, we don't know the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and Sera seems to know those things, let's do it her way first, I know she knows what she's doing." Gaara replied coolly, well at least he hoped that Sera do know.

Again the man attacked and Sera defended, another round of metal clash was heard, it was mesmerising by just watching. It was a close call Sera almost lost her sword once but she expertly turned slashing the opponent's clothes then did a rotation and easily thrusting the sword to his stomach. The man dropped to his knees before falling forward.

_Sera knew she has almost diminished her Sei, she was just standing on sheer determination not to fall, and she couldn't even more her body anymore. She was finally about to fall when Gaara caught her._

"_You okay?" He asked letting lean on him for support and she managed to nod in reply._

"_Is he dead?" Sakura asked looking over their shoulders and Sera shook her head._

_Gaara started to walk but she refused to move._

"_Don't tell me you want us to carry all of these guys back to Konoha!" Naruto whined then Sera shook her head, obvious relief flooded the boy's face, but then Sera pointed to the man she just defeated. "Ah hell no!" _

_Sera glared at him, she needed these guys alive if she wants to find where the rest of the stones were and it's not like she could tell them that, she doesn't even have her voice back. Naruto seems taken aback. He grumbled a bit but hoisted the man on his back then carried him off to the wagon._

_Gaara helped Sera sit on the wagon, she grabbed his robe stopping him from moving away, then took his hand and handed him the reigns. _

"_You want me to drive the wagon?" Gaara asked hesitantly and Sera merely nodded. Gaara sighed, and Sera simply fell asleep, without a care in the world.

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_

i Ryu wa Ryoba – double edged dragon


	11. Eleven

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND ITS CHARACTERS BUT I DO OWN SERA-CHAN...

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**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Gaara was thankful that they finally reached Konoha before the sun went up. Sera slept through the rest of the journey and Naruto's teasing had been hellish, Kakashi and Sakura shared a few irritating giggles as well. Thankfully Sai was a quiet person.

The moment they reached the Konoha gates the Mage was already standing there and waiting for them.

"Jeez, this girl's really bound for trouble..." She said as she carefully carried her little sister. "Oh right, your Hokage asked to see you guys immediately..." She said to the Kakashi, then turned to Gaara and said, "and you come with me..."

They all looked at each other as The Mage but she simply walked away and for some odd reason the horse followed her like a dog.

Team 7 left for the Hokage tower and Gaara followed the Mage on foot. "I can't thank you enough for what you did to my little sister..." The Mage said quietly.

"It was nothing really."

"I didn't mean you just fetching her from wherever she was, but also saving her from the desert and giving your sei to her." She replied

Gaara was surprised to say the least but of course he didn't show it. "How did you know?"

"About the Tensho Gijutsu(i)? I'm a mage after all I would have no problem monitoring my sister's movements I only chose not to, and besides if she weren't in such a weak state I really wouldn't..." She replied as they reached the edge of Konoha.

"Why are we here?" He asked.

"Curious are we?" She replied dismissively then laid her sister on the ground. Gaara silently watched her as she placed rough black crystals around her generating light swarming her. The Mage held out her arms and it wasn't long until blue warm light was coming out of her travelling towards Sera enveloping her body with warm green light.

It took about a good half an hour before the process was complete, Sera's color went back to normal, with her cheeks tinted pink. Her eyes fluttered open and smiled warmly at her sister. "Good morning little sister..." She greeted as she helped her sit up.

Sera's eyes became teary then hugged her sister tightly.

"There, there, I'm here... well at least for now..." She said patting her little sister's back. "And you there, what's your name again?" She asked Gaara.

"My name Gaara..."

"Ok, Gaara. Really can't thank you enough for my sister, and I understand that you guys are in the middle of some kind of war but retrieving the sacred stones for our kingdom is very important, I myself cannot gather them as I have my responsibilities as Mage of the Church of Eterne." She said then sighed deeply. "All I'm asking is for you to keep my sister under your protection from any harm, money is no object and I will pay according to your services."

"We usually need paper work and the approval of the council for this." Gaara replied.

"I see..." The Mage said thinking things over. "Then I guess I could ask the Hokage for assistance, and I could send aid here for rebuilding this beautiful village and also money as payment, after all we're talking about my sister... I will spare no value to protect her as much as I can." She replied.

"If what you say is true then why send her to retrieve these sacred stones of yours if you are aware of the danger it has?" Gaara questioned.

"It's because if the King decrees it, no one else can bend it." She simply replied looking at him straight in the eyes.

Gaara stared back, he knows he feels closer to his siblings than before but there was something in the Mage's eyes that beckons empathy for her sister.

_Sera looked at Gaara then back to her sister, she grabbed her sister's robe to get her attention then started doing the sign language. "Sister what are you doing? Do you not trust me to finish this on my own?" _

_Sandra shook her head and replied to her in the same manner, "No Sera, I respect you as much as I love you, but you are not at your 100% so I don't think it is wise that you travel alone at your current state."_

"_But sister, I know what I can do..."_

"_And what about taking off your Limiter?" Sandra questioned, Sera dropped her hands and lifted her shoulders. Sandra just sighed and tilted her sister's chin then spoke aloud. "Listen, let's make a deal, how about i hire someone for you until you get your voice back?" _

_Sera would've squealed if she could, but still she hugged her sister very tightly then stood up. "Oh yeah before I forget that guy has a sacred stone on him I can feel it._

He really didn't understood what just happened between the two but they seemed to arrive at a some sort of agreement, when Sera tugged her sister's robe one more time. She did a series of hand signs again and after she was done her sister's eyes widened. "Hey kid, wanna see something cool?" She said and then without preamble she walked towards the unconscious man behind the wagon, he was big and well muscled his hair was dark and crop near his scalp.

He watched the Mage flex her fingers , after blue aura enveloped it, she placed her hand on the man's chest then it submerged. Gaara was beyond surprise at the sight. Not even the most skilled medical-nins were able to do this kind of feat, there were no incisions or blood, her hand submerged like it was only water. It wasn't long when she pulled out her hand and it was holding something.

"Overwhelming isn't it?" The Mage said beaming a wide smile then opened up her palm revealing a familiar looking stone, then she turned to her sister. "The Strength of Water... I guess you're still lucky, only four more to go..." She said handing the stone to her.

Gaara remained straight faced, he refused to be stunned from what happened. "Mage, if you truly wish for your sister to be accompanied by me, I cannot grant you your wish, as I am a Kazekage of my village, I have certain duties and responsibilities that I must tend to, I guess it is wise for you to just send your troops to guard your sister."

Again the Mage cracked a smile. "As much as I'd love to do that, sadly, most of my soldiers know just how difficult my sister could be, and you as a person separate from our people I'd be thinking that she'd be more considerate..." She replied.

At the corner of his eye, he saw Sera cross her arms and puff her cheeks, and at that he almost smiled. "I see, well then shall we go to Suna and talk it over to the elders." Gaara suggested.

"Ok guess... but I don't see why the elder council has a say with your politics, the new blood should reign as long as they learned from the previous leaders." She commented, but smiled. "But okay, I'll go along with you, I don't want to burden Konoha anyways, so yeah... you know what you really need to loosen up, I know you have great responsibilities but never forget to have some fun once in a while."

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i Tensho Gijutsu – Transfer Technique


	12. Twelve

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, coz if I did him and Hinata would've been married a long time ago.**

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**Chapter Twelve**

_Suna is quite and a bit on the boring side, it has been a couple of days since they'd gone back here and up until now she couldn't believe that she agreed to her sister's stipulation it was Gaara or his siblings to be her guard. She had to admit that she does need them and they are a very strong bunch of people. _

_She was dead bored as she waited for the Kazekage's council meeting to end. She and Gaara are supposed to go hunting for the perpetrators that stole her voice. _

"_Sera-sama what are you doing outside the council room?" Matsuri asked as she squatted just like her._

_Sera scribbled expertly on a piece of paper and handed it to her."I'm waiting for the any of the Sand Siblings to accompany me." It was upon her sister's strictest orders that she will not leave the village without any of the most trusted Nins of Sunagakure._

"_Oh, ok..." Matsuri replied as she sat down beside her. _

_Just then an idea struck her, she hastily wrote something on paper again. "Matsuri do you think that Gaara-san trust you?" _

"_What do you mean Sera-sama..?" _

"_You know, like he doesn't question your character and that you are you know trust worthy..." She wrote._

"_Well I'd like to think so Sera-sama..." She replied._

_Sera gave her a wicked smile._

Gaara just finished his council meeting with the elders when an ANBU was waiting for him. "What is it?"

"Sera-sama left a message for you..." He replied handing him a letter.

"Yo, Gaara-kun, since you're busy enough as it is, I decided to take Matsuri with me and go search for the rest of my people's sacred stones. I don't want to burden you anymore with my quest I know that sister specifically asked you to take charge in guarding me but right now I know that your people need you too. Don`t worry, I found a very reliable person to take with me and I`ll make sure that sister will still pay you for your services. Buh-bye... see yah soon!"

Gaara was angry, he was boiling inside but he didn't dare show it on his face. "You are dismissed..." He merely stated to the ANBU. Gaara simply crumpled the letter in his hand and went to look for Temari and Kankuro.

"_Sera-sama, Gaara-sama will be very disappointed if he found out that you went out without him or his siblings." Matsuri said very worried._

"_Come on Matsuri where is your sense of adventure!" Sari replied slapping Matsuri's back._

_Sera simply smiled at the both of them, it's not that she really need companions, it's just it gets rather sad and lonely if your alone on a journey... and besides her sister will probably rush here the moment she finds that she set out alone again._

_Sera held out her hand halting them as three strangers approached them._

"_Hey look at what we have here..." Said the familiar face of the very person that had stolen her voice._

"_Sera-sama!" Saki said grabbing Sera's arm that blocked them._

_Sera's eyes darkened as energy started to whirl around her, she stretched out her aura, holding the other two back. _

_Sera changed stance, her face grew serious, she spread her legs apart putting all her weight on the right leg as her left was extended outwards. She closed her fist as held up her defences._

_They attacked at her all at once._

"_Sera-sama!" She heard Matsuri shouted, they couldn't even move from where they were._

_Sera easily tossed the girl aside and blocked the others' attacks sending one flying through the air. She successfully did offense as she blocked the attacks when the other kicked her squarely on the chest sending her a few feet back the other two attacked her instantly, but she recovered just as fast, she stood up at once throwing the girl over her head, and she did the same with the other man, when she saw the other attacker coming in for her she changed stance and did a roundhouse kick successfully, the girl attacked her once again, they were exchanging blows and kicks very fast but she blocked everything and landing a few solid hits as well. _

_Her energy was draining quickly, she was just lucky that the girl that stole her voice doesn't know how to use it or else she's dead. She blocked her opponent's strikes successfully but she doesn't know how long will this last, she simply can't drag Matsuri and Saki with her fight, just protecting them or rather constricting them to move is taking a lot from her, added to that that these three people are strong opponents and she is not in her top shape._

_She was blocking the attacks quite successfully when she noticed the change in wind from behind her, from the corner of her eye she noticed that the man was going to attack her. She ducked it just in time before it hit her, he tried to attack her again as soon as he landed but she successfully kicked him on his center sending him back._

_The other attacked her once more, Sera kicked him on the shins, as she blocked another attack from the girl. Sera did another round house but she knew they were getting the best of her._

_She prepared to attack but a slight misstep caused her to be kicked in the jaw, she locked her knees preventing her from falling back, her shoulders were already slumped and she was getting weak. A couple of them attacked her head on as one of them held her back by her shoulders. As the two of them punched her on the stomach._

_She dropped to her knees clutching her robes as she coughed blood. "My oh my, what a weak girl... I thought you were a lot stronger than this..." One of the men mocked. She was so disoriented she wasn't even sure who was talking anymore._

_She saw Sari and Matsuri's lips were moving, they were probably shouting but her ears were already ringing, it was getting hopeless, but she knew she had to get up. She rolled and then pushed herself up even though every part of her body was protesting. She did her stance and this time she knew that there are a lot of holes in them, one false move and she could really die._

_The three of them attacked simultaneously, she has problems with her reflexes but still she blocked their attacks, effectively, that is until she was kicked squarely on the chest. She gasped for air as she tried to buck up her knees. She opened her palms and attacked them, after all the best defence is offense especially in this situation. _

_She punched and kicked them non-stop she just had to keep going, she knew that she was already reaching her limit, she was already feeling worn out and she knew her movements started to slow down._

_She punched the girl, but the man grabbed her arm refusing to let go, the other kicked the back of her knees causing her to fall forward._

_They were laughing maniacally, she was going to die and she knew it. She just wished that Sari and Matsuri could escape, she just couldn't forgive herself if the both of them would die. The man pulled her head back and she saw the sword glinting under the sun. She then closed her eyes and prepared for the worst._

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**Author's note: Sorry it took me a very long time to update this story, i've been busy with my work and studies lately, anyway thanks for all those who read this so far. I sure hope that you guys stay tuned and please don't forget to leave your comments and suggestions. Thanks...**


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